Monday, 13 September 2010

The Contract (2006)

The plot - widower Cusack tries to bond with his wayward son Chris by taking him camping, but on their travels encounter assasin Morgan Freeman who has just busted out of a police car. He encourages them to leave him and move on, but Cusack instead decides to march them through the woods. Freemans hitman pals are following closely behind.

Despite the decent cast, The Contract is widely regarded as a pretty awful film, going straight to video in the US and Europe. Indeed for both Cusack and Morgan Freeman it's their most poorly rated film on Rotten Tomatoes (Currently on Imdb there are 4 other Cusack films which score lower - Grandview USA being the ultimate loser).

Thankfully Cusack has had a haircut since The Ice Harvest and is looking much better, and he gets to do a bit of action hero stuff and running about with a gun. I have a feeling his previous career as a cop was obviously just eluded to so that it wouldn't be utterly unbelieveable when he picks up a gun and manages to bring down a helicopter with it at one point. Only the big names and their charisma stop this being a total bust. There's plenty of bad dialogue and idiotic bits like not being able to get a phone signal to call 911 but others being able to go on the internet fine. Would have been way more fun had Cusack played the bad guy (but with redemptive qualities) in this one rather than the sad sack dad. Or if he reprised his role in Grosse Point Blank and was a hit man too.